David Akersmissed a 39-yard field-goal attempt late in the first quarter of Sunday night's win over New England, his latest misstep in a wildly inconsistent season. Akers is 25-for-35 on field-goal tries this season, and head coach Jim Harbaughclearly is losing patience.

Akers came back to make two short field goals later in the game, from 20 and 28 yards.

"Specialists sometimes only get four or five opportunities a game, and you've got to make the play," Harbaugh said Monday. "You've got to see him do it, got to see him make those plays."

Harbaugh insisted Akers is still part of the team. Asked if there was any thought to making a change, Harbaugh replied, "No, not at this time."

The breakdown on Akers this season: He's 8-for-8 inside 30 yards, 10-for-12 from 30 to 39 yards, 6-for-10 from 40 to 49 yards and 1-for-5 from 50 yards and beyond.

A season ago, he converted 44 of 52 field-goal tries, going 7-for-9 from 50 yards and beyond.

Snapping struggles:Colin Kaepernick fumbled the snap from center Jonathan Goodwinno fewer than four times in Sunday night's cold, wet conditions - which doesn't bode well for a game in potentially cold, wet Seattle.

Harbaugh described the ball as "squirting off" Kaepernick's hand and said it helped when Kaepernick moved his left hand more to the right. Kaepernick also wore a glove on his left hand later in the game.

"There are two people involved, the center and the quarterback," Harbaugh said. "You look at how each is taking that snap, delivering the snap, and get it fixed."

Briefly: Defensive tackle Justin Smith, who sustained an elbow injury in New England, had an MRI exam Monday. Harbaugh expects to know more about Smith's status by Wednesday, though he suggested the injury isn't serious. ... Michael Crabtree(73 catches for 868 yards) needs 132 yards in the final two regular-season games to become San Francisco's first 1,000-yard receiver since Terrell Owensin 2003.